Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

With amazing speed, the process of getting the system up and running begins today.

This morning MPs are being asked to approve a party carve-up of chairmanships...and a fortnight from now they will be able to elect members of the appropriate parties to the chairs.

This is the division published this morning:

Business Innovation and Skills - Labour
Children, Schools and Families - Conservative
Communities and Local Government - Labour
Culture, Media and Sport - Conservative
Defence - Conservative
Energy and Climate Change - Conservative
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Conservative
Foreign Affairs - Conservative
Health - Conservative
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Affairs - Labour
International Development - Lib Dem
Justice - Lib Dem
Northern Ireland - Conservative
Science and Technology - Labour
Scottish Affairs - Labour
Transport - Labour
Treasury - Conservative
Welsh Affairs - Conservative
Work and Pensions - Labour

Other committees:

Environmental Audit - Labour
Procedure - Conservative
Public Administration - Conservative
Public Accounts - Labour

Nominations close a fortnight yesterday - and once the chairs are chosen, the party groups will elect rank and file members to the committees.

I anticipate some pretty interesting dogfights for particular chairs - not least the Business Committee, where the former chair, the redoubtable Peter Luff has been given one of the most difficult posts in government, as Minister for Defence Procurement. (He will be one of the major cutters in the coalition, with the agonising task of trimming back what many believe to be an over-extended programme for new weapons system.)

Watch out, too, for the Treasury Committee, which will have a key role in the economic debate to come....where two highly respected Tory backbenchers, Andrew Tyrie and Michael Fallon are both tipped by admirers. One of the features of the new system is expected to be strong competition to be the toughest, most independent-minded contender - which should ultimately strengthen the scrutiny the Commons gives to government.

And incidentally, there's also a developing race for the three Deputy Speakerships. The top deputy, the Chairman of Ways and Means will have to be a Labour member, the First Vice Chairman will be from the government side, either a Conservative or a Liberal Democrat. And the Second Vice Chairman will be Labour - and will have to be a woman, if neither of the other two posts is won by a woman.

The names I've heard being touted about thus far as candidates include the Conservatives Nigel Evans, Roger Gale and Geoffrey Clifton Brown. On the Labour side, the former minister Dawn Primarolo, Lindsay Hoyle and Joan Walley are mentioned, as is the Lib Dem patriarch Sir Alan Beith - who may face a bit of a dilemma, since he might want to continue in the Chair of the Justice Committee.

UPDATE: The Leader of the House, Sir George Young, has just announced the creation of a new committee to scrutinise the constitutional reform brief of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg - and he's recommended that ministers and PPSs in particular departments should exercise moral restraint, and take no part in the voting for the chairs and members of their departmental select committees.

UPDATED UPDATE: Sir Malcolm Rifkind is not seeking the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He has signed the nomination form for Sir John Stanley - who, with his support, looks like a shoe-in.

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